Inmate calls are blocked, and so are some outside the jail walls
Blocking inmate calls from cell phones they’re not supposed to have is a good idea. Blocking cell phone use on busy city streets outside the jail is not so great.
Read moreMartin O’Malley
Barry Rascovar: O’Malley’s latest pension grab
It takes quite a bit for the quiet, diplomatic State Treasurer, Nancy Kopp, to criticize her fellow Democrat, Gov. Martin O’Malley. But she gently laid it on the line in opposing O’Malley’s $100 million budget cut for state pension contributions.
“It’s a question of trust,” Kopp said
Read moreRascovar column: Do-gooders know best about wages
Raising the minimum wage is all the rage among liberal Democrats and liberal advocacy groups. Listening to them it’s clear a much higher minimum will dramatically close the income inequity gap. Columnist Barry Rascovar explores the downside of upping the minimum wage, and offers a better alternative.
Read moreO’Malley’s Irish ghost writer, and a wee tale of speechifying
Gov. Martin O’Malley solved part of the mystery about the odd quote in his State of the State address last week. “The only things worth doing are the things that might possibly break your heart,” O’Malley said. It turns out O’Malley didn’t just lift the quote from something he read — Irish writer Column McCann helped him craft some of the speech,
Read moreAnalysis: From the back corner, a solid speech that was mostly true
From my usual corner at the back of the House of Delegates chamber, Martin O’Malley’s eighth and final State of the State address seemed one of his better efforts.
Think what you might of O’Malley’s accomplishments over the last seven years — the real subject of the whole speech — the gov is an effective communicator, except when he reaches too far for the lofty rhetoric of his beloved Irish poets.
Read moreRascovar column: Brown has a health care albatross
Maryland’s lieutenant governor, Anthony Brown, has a problem that won’t go away — his still unexplained leadership role in the state’s disastrous Obamacare rollout.
This is the biggest sticking point in Brown’s run for governor. It could become an insurmountable obstacle if public attention remains focused on those computer glitches and poor sign-up results.
Read moreUnions, pension board unhappy O’Malley cut $100M in promised payment to retirement fund
The largest unions representing state workers and public school teachers are upset at Gov. Martin O’Malley’s decision to permanently cut $100 million from extra payments into the state pension system. The money came from additional employee salary deductions required by a 2011 pension reform, and was intended to help cure underfunding in the pension system.
Read moreAnalysis: Putting a different spin on $39 billion state budget
O’Malley as usual rolled out the new budget with an elaborate PowerPoint presentation to reporters that put a positive spin on the budget numbers. But a different spin can be put on some of the numbers.
Read moreRascovar commentary: O’Malley’s final budget choices will be revealing
The budget picture is brightening for Gov. Martin O’Malley in his final year, but will he spend it all or save some for his successor.
Read moreRascovar commentary: Md. health care leader? It’s not Anthony Brown
Who’s in charge of Maryland’s computerized Obamacare rollout? Until recently, Lt. Gov. Anthony Brown wanted you to believe he was the man.
Yet it has become painfully clear Brown is not the “point man” on Obamacare, Maryland-style.